The Sauer Family Foundation seeks opportunities to increase public awareness of the foster care experience. We are grateful to Travis Matthews for joining us in recognizing National Foster Care Month by sharing his life journey which has intersected our foster care system and so much more.

My name is Travis Matthews. I’m 22 years old, a recent college graduate, and today, I’m proud to say I work professionally to support foster youth in accessing higher education. But the journey here was anything but easy.

I entered foster care as a preteen and remained in care until I aged out at 21. I spent years bouncing between placements, navigating a system that often made me feel invisible. Growing up as a gay kid in rural Minnesota only compounded the isolation and confusion I felt. The supportive adults in my life tried to shield me from the cracks in the system, but the harm still found its way through.

There were moments when it seemed like the system was working against me. While my peers were exploring post secondary options as high schoolers (something that should be celebrated) I faced barriers to even attempt to sign up—because my worker didn’t believe I should have that much freedom as a youth. I felt like my potential was constantly questioned, controlled, and restricted.

But I never lost sight of one thing: education. A judge once told me that while the system could take nearly everything from me, it couldn’t take what I’d learned. That stuck with me. I threw myself into school, into understanding my rights as a foster youth, and into advocacy, fighting for what I was entitled under the law. This passion guided me toward studying legal systems and policy.

In May 2024, I graduated from Hamline University with a B.A. in Legal Studies. College was transformative—it gave me lifelong friendships, a chosen family, and opportunities I never dreamed of. But it was also a time of deep grief. Trauma doesn’t vanish while working towards a degree. I found myself unpacking pain from both before and during foster care. Even surrounded by support, the weight of it all still lingered– and it still does to this day.

What changed everything was community. Leaning into a network of other foster alumni, the beautiful, resilient community I now call family helped me start healing.

Today, I work at Youthprise, helping administer the Education and Training Voucher (ETV) program. Every day, I get to support young people with lived experience in foster care. There is nothing more fulfilling than watching them succeed, knowing I’ve had even a small hand in supporting their journey. It’s surreal—being a foster helping fosters—but it’s also deeply healing.

As I reflect this May, which marks the anniversary of my removal, I feel both gratitude and urgency. The sting of that day feels the exact same as it did then. I’ve had a “successful” outcome, but I am the exception, not the rule. So many of my peers have been failed by this system. We cannot let that continue.

We have work to do. And it’s all of our responsibility to do it.